1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image recognition, and more specifically, to a method and an apparatus for recognizing a specific object inside an image in an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional touchscreen interface can be used to provide a basic function related to image shooting performed by a camera via a Graphic User Interface (GUI). For example, to use a photo shooting mode, a video shooting mode, a panoramic image shooting mode, etc., a user may tap or touch one or more icons representing a shooting mode, a specific icon, or a specific item in a list, in order to select and operate the shooting mode. This method is used for selecting a shooting mode of a camera, or for selecting a basic function for shooting. A user may also drive other functions via a touchscreen interface. For example, a user may use the touchscreen interface to operate a function for reading specific information existing on an object during an image capture preview state via an image sensor mounted on an electronic device, such as a portable terminal and a smartphone.
Recently, various recognition technologies that use a camera, for example, applications technologies that use a barcode, a two-dimensional code, a color-based code, business card recognition, face recognition, etc., are distributed across separate applications or recognition modules within applications. Generally, a touchscreen interface is used to drive separate applications depending on a type of an object to be recognized, or to select a kind of a specific recognition module from within a same application.
An application for recognizing a business card, a barcode, or a Quick Response (QR) code in an electronic device may obtain an image corresponding to a specific business card, a barcode, and a QR code via an image sensor, and then extract a barcode and a QR code inside a relevant image to display information included in the extracted code.